This invention relates to the technology of separating particles by means of attraction and repulsion forces applied to the particles in an electrostatic field.
The prior art is well aware of the general concept of passing particles through an electrostatic field to cause the particles, having electrical charges associated therewith, to move toward or away from charged electrodes in accordance with the principles of electrostatics (like charges repel and dissimilar charges attract). Typical of the U.S. Pat. Nos. in this field of technology are 2,245,200; 2,357,658; 3,998,727; and 4,092,241. Improvements in the apparatus for such processes have been directed to many features, such as the use of special transportation means to carry the particles through the electrostatic field, vibration equipment to assure random mixing of particles fed into the system, etc. Typical of such improvements is that of U.S. Pat. No. 4,849,099. Still other improvements have been needed.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved apparatus for effecting electrostatic separation of particles from a mixture of particles. Another object of this invention is to provide an electrostatic separation apparatus having continuous cleaning of the electrodes. Still another object is to provide an improved apparatus made into modules that can be added to other modules to produce an apparatus of any desired capacity. Other objects will become apparent from the more detailed description which follows.